TASIMENOVA
Gallery
Pessimism
Gzhel Girls
Surveillance
Sypher
Surround
3D Design
Typography
Centquatre VI
Painting
Selected Works
Illustration
kamilatasimenova@gmail.com
@kuumiilaa
Although the overarching theme, pessimism, remained constant throughout the entirety of the project, the right method of translating this volatile state changed over time. Sadness and pessimism differ. Pessimism is not quantifiable and whether a viewer interprets a piece to symbolize negative emotion is not guaranteed. Chairs allow for a designer to curate three main aspects - functionality, materiality and aesthetics, how to use this to my advantage? How can a chair be sad, how can it capture something as abstract as pessimism when a chair is an inanimate object.
Proposal #1
Proposal #2
Proposal #3
Reworking
The project explores the extent to which an abstract emotion can be induced through the functionality, materiality, and aesthetics of a chair. The deliverable is a chair covered in a deep velvet fabric, stuffed with furniture filling, the caveat being that the seat of the chair sinks down the more a user deposits their weight onto it. The seating is constructed of two pockets containing white sand, which spill out from the sides of the chair proportionally to the weight applied. The chair, SANDY, visualizes the process of pessimism overtaking an individual, confining them to a negative headspace. As time passes, refusing to take a leap and fight the descent into negativity can lead to a position from which an individual is no longer capable of freeing themselves.
Interaction of a user with the chair reflects their coping mechanisms: it could be that escaping the constraints of pessimism requires external help - another person assisting the user in climbing out of the chair following their descent; it could be that pessimism is shown as inviting and comfortable - translated through the softness of the velvet and the deceitful ‘stuffed’ look. The main message however is that pessimism is not sustainable, the sand, eventually runs out, and an individual must choose.
Documention
An accordion book reveals the first stages of the design process. The artist book includes sketches, research and proposals that stretch across the pages in a continuous scroll. It is meant to fit inside Book A, with the sand clock cover revealed through the silhouette of the velvet chair.
A custom cover in the shape of a chair. The cover unfolds in the middle, to reveal an illustration of the chair. The signatures are Swiss-bound. The book is wrapped in deep purple velvet and lined with cardstock. The accordion book is stashed within